newgroundsfandomcom-20200216-history
History of Newgrounds
New Ground In 1991, Tom Fulp made a fanzine for the Neo Geo video game system called "New Ground" out of his parents' basement. The name was created by replacing the words "Neo" and "Geo" with the synonyms "New" and "Ground." The magazine offered reviews and hints for Neo Geo games, as well as fancomics. He had approximately one hundred subscribers. New Ground Remix On July 6, 1995, Tom Fulp acquired his first web space, and decided to make a website called "New Ground Remix," after his fanzine. Although he uploaded some material to his site, it wasn't until the summer of 1996 that Tom Fulp made his first signature games: Club a Seal and Assassin. Throughout his college years, Tom Fulp continued to work on the site, despite lacking access to his server. He created a new layout for Assassin, sequels for his hit games. Fulp then created a new site, New Ground Atomix, so that he could post from college. He also created Cat Dynamics and Beep Me Jesus. In the spring of 1998, he combined the two websites, once again making Remix the main site. It was at this time he began to experiment with Flash, and created Telebubby Fun Land. On September 20, 1998, Inside Edition called Tom Fulp, asking to do a news story on Assassin. Tom Fulp then decided to purchase a URL. newground.com was taken, so, out of necessity, he purchased "newgrounds.com." Ironically, the story never took place. However a story did occur after the BBC contacted Tom Fulp. The BBC felt that Telebubby Fun Land constituted a copyright infringement, bringing global attention to Newgrounds for the first time. 1999 In 1999, Tom Fulp created the original Flash Portal, as a dumping ground for material not worthy of the front page. This was also the year that he created the Pico trilogy, including Pico's School, the most advanced flash game yet. In August, the first third party, Ian Hothersall, contributed his flash movie, Hate. This led to other Newgrounders submitting their work, which Tom Fulp individually put on the website. Tom Fulp also made UFA and Samurai Asshole this year. 2000 2000 is mostly remarkable as the year Tom Fulp hired Ross to make the automated Flash Portal, the first of its kind. It was completed on April 6, and the modern submission numbering began. This was also the beginning of the modern voting system, in which voters could "protect" or "blam" submissions. Scrotum 1 was now officially the first submission in the Portal. Ross also created the Grounds Gold system. Tom dropped college to make Newgrounds his full-time job. A navigation bar was also added this year. The now defunct chat room and still active BBS were created. Wade Fulp was hired by Tom to run the site's day to day activities. Many future Newgrounds staff, including Stamper and Luis, submitted their first flash this year. 2001 In February, the All Your Base phenomenon took off, becoming the biggest Newgrounds viral yet. On August 15, B, an extermely low-quality flash, was submitted, and would spark the creation of the Clock Crew. Users responded to September 11 with a multitude of submissions, including "Kill Osama" games, tributes to the victims like "Floor:83", and parodies of the events that would eventually lead to the creation of the "Bastards" Collection. 2002 Newgrounds was in a financially bad state at the start of the year, growth was stagnant, and Ross left the Newgrounds staff. A new Pico animation was added for voting, but was removed on October 4. In April, several controversial submissions, including Hentai Simgirls and KABOOM, were submitted. July featured the original Madness Combat by Krinkels, and on August 7, Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin submitted Alien Hominid, the game that would lead to the creation of The Behemoth. Tom Fulp contacted his friend James, and James was eventually given access to the Newgrounds servers. By the end of the year, the site had been optimized. Tom Fulp collaborated with Dan Paladin and ROG to make Chainsaw the Children and Domo Kuhn's Angry Smashfest, which were submitted in December. The whistle system was also introduced in December, as well as a multi-author system on the 13th. 2003 illwillpress submitted his first animation, Shower of Terror, on Janurary 6, beginning the long running Neurotically Yours series. The Audio Portal was launched in February to feature independent musicians and provide flash animators with free music for their games and movies. Tom Fulp took direct control of the servers in April, dramatically reducing site costs. The first front page icons for user-made flash began at this time, under the name "Tom and Wade Recommend." The multi-author system was also instated in April, allowing collaborations to become a permanent part of Newgrounds. TheWeebl submitted Badger in September, starting a following that continues to this day. On November 1st, the servers were moved from New York to Philadelphia. 2004 On Janurary 12, the front page archive was launched, keeping a list of all flash ever deemed worthy for the front page. ultimate flash sonic was submitted on February 21, and marked "a modern pinnacle in Flash game design." Adam Phillips released his first Brackenwood submission, "Bitey of Brackenwood," on March 29. Livecorpse commited a highly disturbing suicide in June. In July, two Newgrounds icons, Salad Fingers and Magical Trevor, made their debut. On December 6, Gary Brolsma first submitted "Numa Numa Dance," which went on to become one of Newgrounds's most viewed submissions and a viral phenomenon. 2005 February was the first month in which Newgrounds offered cash awards for top-rated submissions. Kitty Cannon, released on March 30, created the Toss genre on Newgrounds. Dad n' Me, the first flash collaboration between Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin, was submitted July 27th, and went on to win the Best Web Game award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival. The Glock Group was also created this month. In October, Newgrounds finally got an office in Philadelphia. Charlie the Unicorn, which would later become a YouTube phenomenon, came out November 26. On December 22, The Ultimate Showdown was submitted, and became the most popular movie of 2005. 2006 Early in the year, Newgrounds replaced the old Tank logo with a newer, more streamlined version. On February 23, Egoraptor submitted Metal Gear Awesome,which would be highly influential for later video game parodies. March 14 marked the day Fancy Pants Adventures, the definitive Flash Platformer, entered the Portal. April 30 was the first Pico Day, which has since become a major holiday on Newgrounds. Animator vs. Animation premiered on June 3, while JohnnyUtah submitted his first movie as a staff member, Tankmen, on the 30th. Although Phoenix Wrong did not receive any awards when it came out on July 29, it was parodied and paid tribute to in a wide variety of movies, most notably LR: Phoenix Wrong by Little-Rena. 2007 On May 29, Newgrounds Rumble was submitted, and would go on to win the first Tank Awards. On July 16, the site was relaunched, with redesigned portals, collections, forums, and a new front page. September 22 marked the first Madness Day. On November 5, Adam Phillips submitted Waterlollies, the other Tank Award winning flash that year. 2008 FPA: World 2 was released on Janurary 17, and would win the Tank Award for best game of 2008. Walk in the Woods by TheWeebl was the first movie with a fullscreen option, which has since become a fairly common option. Chuck's New Tux! by HappyHarry was submitted May 14, and would ultimately win the Tank Award. After the Virginia Tech shootings, several games received negative media attention for an insensitive potrayal of the events, especially V-tech Rampage. On August 19, the official Newgrounds store was opened. Meat Boy, which was submitted on October 5, was so well received, that a WiiWare remake is in production for a Q1 2010 release date. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Meat_Boy. 2009 On March 17, Thomas Briggs, aka Sirtom93, threatened to burn his school down on the BBS, leading to his eventual arrest. The Flash Portal was redesigned on May 27, switching to a wide layout. The traditional option is still available. On June 18, the Art Portal was launched. Unlike the Flash Portal, it uses a Scouting system in order to maintain a high level of quality. Time Fcuk was submitted on September 16, and went on to win several awards outside of Newgroundshttp://bestof.ign.com/2009/free-to-play/best-free-to-play-pc-game.html. Snow Snow For Lucy came out on Christmas Eve, raising the technical bar for flash animation. Links Official History Flash Portal History Wikipedia Article Category:Stubs Category:History